Wildlife snaps: leopards and lions of the Timbavati

Looking for big cats in the beautiful Lowveld. 

We flew into the Hoedspruit airport on a small plane. Below us the land was orange and dry, speckled with trees but significantly absent of summer grass. The airport is a tiny brick building, not really an airpot at all. The lack of boarding gates, luggage carousels and burly officials make it more of a welcome party, which is the best way to start a holiday (even if it's just for the weekend). An hour away we stepped into our lodging for a quick lunch and then excitedly climbed into the Landie for a weekend of incredible leopard and lion sightings, among other incredible blessings of the bushveld. 

The Timbavati lies west of the Kruger National Park, roughly north of Orpen gate covering an enormous area of 54 000 hectares. There is no fence between these parks and animals roam freely across the invisible divide. The reserve is famous because white lions were first seen here in the 1970s and although we weren't lucky enough to catch a glimpse of these snowy-looking felines there was plenty to keep our eyes peeled for. Here are a few of my favourite wildlife snaps from the top of the safari truck. 

These frisky lion cubs were all canoodling each other in the early morning light, then one looked straight into the camera

The iconic and colourful Lilac-breasted Roller

We had the pleasure of watching this leopard stalking a lion cub's kill

There were plenty of giraffe

A fluffed-up oxpecker. You learn to recognise the call of these birds as it indicates mammal presence, even when you can't see through the thick bush

This enormous male leopard was cleaning himself after a thorough gorging on an impala

A white rhino rarely strays far from water

An oxpecker perches on a giraffe at dusk

I could watch these picture-perfect cats for hours. Such a special sighting

On our way home, the owl silhouette against moonlight was unmistakable

The shiny emerald shell of this dung beetle shone against the rough bark

We got pretty close to these lion cubs

This mighty elephant bull stance is enough to make any car back off a little. This is his home

These eyelashes will make any girl jealous

This Golden Orb spider was sitting on his web at the airport, we spotted him on our way home

Purple skies at dusk

Golden light and golden eyes - goodbye beautiful bushveld